Falling: A Novel

Carrie returns to the children. Theo chases after Sam, catches him, and they fight. Other agents approach as Sam throws sand in Theo’s face. The two are surrounded by five agents when Theo realizes Sam has taken his gun. The agents try to talk Sam down, but he won’t listen. Sam takes his own life.

Unaware that Sam’s phone is still broadcasting to the plane over FaceTime, the agents rush to get Carrie and the children to safety. Liu tells everyone that the terrorist is dead and then spots the phone. She picks it up and notices the gun Ben is holding. Ben orders Bill to close his laptop. Ben removes another gas canister from his bag. When Bill refuses to throw it, Ben stands over him with the gun pointed at his head. Bill knows that if he dies, Ben will crash the plane. Bill attempts to take the gun from Ben, and they wrestle. Ben hits Bill on the head with the canister, dazing him. Ben throws the canister into the passenger cabin.

As Carrie comforts her children, she quickly explains the whole situation to Liu. Theo comes over, and Liu tells him that the co-pilot is also a terrorist. Carrie learns that Theo is Jo’s nephew and has been in contact with her. Liu expresses the belief that Bill will crash the plane even though they rescued his family. Carrie argues against it, but Liu orders her taken away. Carrie overhears Liu say they need to prepare for the secondary protocol and forces Theo to tell her what it is.

Just as the passengers’ oxygen runs out, the second canister comes flying into the passenger cabin. Jo is startled and isn’t sure what to do. The canister rolls to the back of the plane. Big Daddy goes after it as passengers kick it away in a panic. When he finally catches it, Big Daddy has nothing to put it in. Kellie hurries to bring him a coffee carafe. Big Daddy puts the canister into the carafe and locks it inside a bathroom. When Big Daddy emerges from the bathroom, his face is red and swollen. Kellie pours water on his skin to wash away the gas.

Ben orders Bill to take the plane off autopilot. Ben instructs Bill to fly manually to the target. Bill is confused for a moment because Ben doesn’t instruct him to change trajectory. It is then that Bill realizes Ben wants him to crash the plane over Yankee Stadium where the seventh game of the World Series is playing.

Jo observes as the passengers attempt to clean the gas from their skin with water bottles. She settles in her jump seat and looks out the window, realizing that they are no longer approaching JFK Airport. She’s frightened by this but continues to believe Bill will not crash the plane. Then she sees Theo’s texts informing her of Carrie’s rescue and the fact that Ben is one of the terrorists. She calls Big Daddy to come forward.

Back with the air traffic controllers at JFK, George is annoyed by the military officers in his office and angry when he hears them talking about shooting down the plane. Reluctantly, he agrees to cooperate. As he discusses it with Dusty, they learn from the local news that Carrie Hoffman is going to make a statement.

Theo takes Carrie to her house, where Vanessa Perez allows Carrie to make a statement live on air. Carrie pleads with the president to trust that Bill will not crash the plane. As Carrie finishes her statement, Dusty notices that the plane has left its intended course. They also learn from the Morse code communication that the intended target is Yankee Stadium.